DOJ may cost Aegerion patients

Aegerion has put investors on alert that the Department of Justice investigation into its Juxtapid marketing may be a considerable weight on the drugmaker's financials.

Forbes highlighted the signal paragraph in the company's annual report Wednesday, in which the company addressed both the DOJ investigation and a Warning Letter it received from the FDA's bad-ad unit, OPDP. Resolving OPDP's complaints appears to be the easier of the two tasks—the company said it will run a corrective ad on CNBC.

The DOJ took note of the company and subpoenaed marketing information in January. This is going to require more than a video shoot, and the company noted in its annual report that it plans “to vigorously defend ourselves,” but that this effort may be costly in terms of court fees and market impact.

“This investigation could adversely impact our reputation and the willingness of physicians to prescribe lomitapide for their HoFH patients,” the company said in its annual report.